How It Works

A quiet rail behind the apps you already use.

Anchored by KCB. Lived inside every participating bank's app. Settled directly between banks.

STEP 01

Banks expose their merchants

Each pilot bank shares its registered Paybill and Till list to the Lipafo Merchant Portal via a REST/JSON Daraja-pattern API. No new identifiers issued.

STEP 02

Customer opens their bank app

Inside KCB, Equity, Co-op, Family or Absa, the customer taps LipafoPay and enters the same Paybill or Till they've always known.

STEP 03

Switch routes the intent

Lipafo's switch core debits the customer's bank, credits the merchant's bank, and journals every event with idempotent guarantees.

STEP 04

Banks settle by RTGS T+1

At 00:00 EAT, Lipafo emails each bank its bilateral net positions. Banks initiate their own RTGS from their CBK nostros by 12:00 EAT the next day.

A familiar shape for bank engineers.

REST/JSON, Daraja-pattern endpoints. Bearer auth. Idempotency keys on every write. CBK-aligned record keeping.

Read the API docs

POST /v1/payments/intent
Headers:
  Authorization: Bearer {access_token}
  X-Lipafo-Intent-Key: {uuid_v4}

{
  "originating_bank": "KCB",
  "msisdn":           "+2547XXXXXXXX",
  "merchant_paybill": "247247",
  "amount":           { "currency": "KES", "value": 2450.00 }
}

CBK aligned

Built to Central Bank of Kenya record-keeping & oversight standards.

Banks own the customer

AML, KYC and fraud screening stay where they belong — at your bank.

Same Paybill & Till

No new numbers, no new identifiers — Kenya's muscle memory honoured.

Stay close to the journey.

Notes from the Lipafo–KCB team as more banks join the rail.

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